An internal review of how the AFL handled the Essendon supplements debacle endorses the league’s controversial joint ASADA investigation.

According to The Australian, the review also sets out guidelines for the AFL chief executive, chairman and commission in future investigations.

The league apparently has distributed the much-anticipated review to the clubs.

The joint AFL-ASADA investigation was one of the most contentious points in the long-running Essendon supplements saga.

Essendon and then-coach James Hird unsuccessfully challenged the legality of the joint investigation in the Federal Court.

Hird broke ranks with the club and launched an appeal, which also failed.

There is a sense that the saga is finally over, with Essendon’s season-opening win over Hawthorn last Saturday night an emotional and symbolic milestone.

That team featured six of the players who have returned from the doping bans that stemmed from the debacle.

On February 5 2013, Hird, chairman David Evans and chief executive Ian Robson were grim-faced as they announced the club was coming under the joint AFL-ASADA investigation.

In August that year, and as a direct result of interim investigation findings, the AFL hit Essendon with the heaviest penalties in the game’s history.

Hird was banned for 12 months, the Bombers were kicked out of the finals, they were fined $2 million and lost draft picks.

Another controversial aspect of the saga was the role played by chief executive Andrew Demetriou.

The league’s current CEO Gillon McLachlan has said already that there are lessons to be learned from the saga.

The review recommends that in future investigations, the chief executive is to have no say in final sanctions.

The CEO is a commission member, but the review recommends that he or she should run the investigation.

The commission would not be involved in laying charges or the investigation, only to judge the final outcome.

The review will do little to appease fierce critics of how the AFL handled the Essendon crisis, the biggest scandal in Australian sporting history.